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Telangana to resume Gems SEZ land
Taking serious note of the alleged involvement of Gitanjali Gems in the infamous multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, Telangana state government has lodged a complaint with Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry against the Gems SEZ owned by the Gitanjali group in the Greater Hyderabad limits
Hyderabad: Taking serious note of the alleged involvement of Gitanjali Gems in the infamous multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, Telangana state government has lodged a complaint with Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry against the Gems SEZ owned by the Gitanjali group in the Greater Hyderabad limits. The government has initiated talks with SEZ authorities to retrieve around 170 acres of land given to the company at a throw away price.
The Mumbai-based Gitanjali group has set up the Hyderabad Gems SEZ also called as Rajiv Gems Park at Maheshwaram in 2005. The then AP government has allotted land at Rs 4 lakh per acre to the company to set up its 100 per cent owned Gems SEZ.
The group was owned by Mehul Choksi, the co-accused in the PNB bank scam. The SEZ has emerged as the destination for manufacturers, businessmen and entrepreneurs in the field of gems and jewellery for both gold and diamonds. The facility also housed cutting and polishing units, testing laboratories, certification centres, banks, merchandising centres and other services relevant to the trade.
Top officials of the state government told The Hans India that State Industries department and TSIIC (Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation) held a meeting and reviewed the status of the SEZ and also the shutdown of the company’s operations in the zone leaving around 1,000 employees jobless in the last two days.
Officials said that the “government is taking legal opinion on how to proceed as it is a special economic zone and on resuming land given to the company. “The officials are discussing with the Union Ministry of Commerce the possibility of the taking over of the SEZ by the state government.
A decision on this will be taken after the Centre de-notifies the SEZ. TSIIDC is preparing a detailed report which includes the exports, trade performance and creation of the employment in the zone which will be sent to the Centre for denotification of the SEZ.
Officials said that the TSIIC will also study utilisation of land given to the company in the SEZ. It is learnt that only 50 per cent of the land was under use and the remaining land has been let out to other firms without informing the government. Officials have started conducting field visits and verifying the land documents possessed by the processing units in the zone.
More than 700 employees working in the zone have already been removed from the jobs ever since the company’s name figured in the Rs 12,000-crore bank fraud, officials said and pointed out that the state Labour and Employment department had served notices to the company.
